Sweden
Importing a car into Sweden
From the single market, bringing a car into Sweden is informal: no customs declaration, and no import VAT on a used car. The route to Swedish plates still does not start at a test station but with the ursprungskontroll — and starting anywhere else means waiting twice.
- Registration authority
- Transportstyrelsen
- Customs
- Tullverket
- Technical inspection
- Kontrollbesiktning
- Last reviewed
Where the car comes from decides the effort
From an EU state
From an EU state there is no customs declaration, and no import VAT on a used car. Two questions remain: whether the car counts as new for tax purposes — in which case VAT is declared to Skatteverket in Sweden regardless of what was paid in the country of sale — and whether the foreign papers are complete enough for the ursprungskontroll.
From a third country
From Switzerland or Liechtenstein it is a real import: declared to Tullverket, with duty and import VAT at the rates in force. Only with the assessment in hand does the Swedish registration route begin. Where there is no European type approval, an individual examination replaces the straightforward registration inspection.
The process, in order
The order is not arbitrary. Pull a step forward and you usually end up repeating it.
01Before buying: look at the papers
What matters is the original foreign registration document and the certificate of conformity (COC). The ursprungskontroll wants originals, not copies — a seller who hands over only a copy has not sold a bargain but a problem.
02Apply for the ursprungskontroll
Transportstyrelsen checks the car's origin and identity before it can be entered in the register at all. The original papers go to the agency and stay there while the check runs. It takes weeks rather than days — this is the item that sets the schedule.
Handled by: Transportstyrelsen
03Registration inspection
After the ursprungskontroll the car is presented to a licensed testing company for the registreringsbesiktning. That is where the technical data later held in the register is established. With a COC it is a comparison; without one it is a finding from scratch.
Handled by: Licensed testing company (besiktningsföretag)
04Take out trafikförsäkring
Third-party cover must be in place from the day of registration. For days on which a registered vehicle is uninsured, the Trafikförsäkringsföreningen levies a charge — and it keeps running even while the car is parked.
05Registration and plates
Transportstyrelsen enters the car in the road traffic register and issues the registreringsbevis. Plates are ordered and fitted afterwards; only with them may the car be used normally.
Handled by: Transportstyrelsen
06Close the foreign registration
Deregistration in the country of sale has to happen there and be documented. Leave it undone and tax and insurance obligations keep running abroad — an item nobody notices after the Swedish entry until the bill arrives.
What gets added
Without amounts, and deliberately so: official rates change, and a stale figure is worse than none. What is here is the basis of assessment — enough to calculate with, once the current rate is known.
- Customs duty
- Assessed on: Only on import from outside the single market, on the customs value of the car. Tullverket states the rate.
- Does not apply: Does not arise at all when the car comes from an EU state.
- VAT
- Assessed on: On imports from outside the single market, on customs value plus duty; within the EU only where the car counts as new for tax. It is declared to Skatteverket.
- Does not apply: Does not apply to a used car from an EU state.
- Ursprungskontroll
- Assessed on: A fee per application, set by Transportstyrelsen — regardless of what the car cost.
- Registration inspection
- Assessed on: The testing company's price, by vehicle category. The companies set their own prices, so it is worth comparing.
- Fordonsskatt
- Assessed on: Ongoing, by CO₂ output and fuel. For high-emitting cars the rate is raised for the first years after first registration — on a young, large-engined import this is the item that eats the price advantage over the years you keep it.
- Trafikförsäkring
- Assessed on: The insurer's premium, by car, address and driver. Compulsory from the day of registration.
The papers
Miss one of these and the appointment is wasted.
- Original foreign registration document, parts I and II or the equivalent.
- Certificate of conformity (COC), where one exists.
- Purchase contract or invoice showing the price.
- Proof of deregistration or export in the country of sale.
- The future keeper's personnummer or samordningsnummer, and an address in Sweden.
- Proof of trafikförsäkring from the day of registration.
Where the sum tips
- The skipped ursprungskontroll. Driving to the test station first wastes the appointment: without a decision on origin Transportstyrelsen cannot register the car, and the inspection has to be repeated anyway if it dates too far back.
- A copy instead of the original. The foreign registration document goes to the agency as an original. Anyone who still needs it for the drive home has to plan the order of journey and application around that.
- The fiscally new car. If it stays under the thresholds for first registration and mileage, VAT is declared in Sweden — even where it was already in the price abroad.
- Winter tyres. Sweden requires winter tyres in wintry road conditions within a defined period, and studded tyres are allowed within a period of their own. Both sit in the traffic regulations, not in the purchase contract — a set of winter tyres belongs in the import's budget, not in the surprises of the first cold week.
How long it takes
As an order of magnitude: several weeks for the ursprungskontroll, then one to two weeks for inspection and entry. Without European type approval, with an individual examination, rather two to three months.
The technical inspection
Kontrollbesiktning
The recurring technical test is the kontrollbesiktning, carried out by licensed testing companies. On an import it is preceded by the registreringsbesiktning, which establishes the vehicle data. The first date follows from first registration, after which it recurs at fixed intervals; a valid foreign test replaces neither.
Common questions
May I drive the car before it is registered?
For the transfer, on the selling country's temporary or export plates with valid insurance. In Sweden itself an unregistered car may be used only in narrowly defined exceptions — Transportstyrelsen says which, and the question is worth asking before the drive rather than after.
Is the inspection from the country of origin recognised?
Not for the entry: the registreringsbesiktning establishes the data held in the Swedish register, and nothing substitutes for it. After that the car runs on the Swedish inspection interval, whatever the date of the last foreign test.
Do I need a Swedish personal identity number?
The register holds every car against an identifiable keeper. Anyone registered as resident in Sweden has a personnummer; anyone who is not normally needs a samordningsnummer or another accepted identifier. How a keeper without Swedish residence is handled is a question for Transportstyrelsen in advance — after the ursprungskontroll it is late to ask.
What about VAT in the country of sale?
Buying from a dealer with proof of export, the local tax is normally not charged or is refunded. In a private purchase there is nothing to refund, because no VAT is shown in the price. The difference only matters for a fiscally new car — then the tax falls due in Sweden.
This overview is not a substitute for information from the competent authority. Rates, fees and deadlines change; the office that registers the car is always the binding source.